parental interest in solids

What are some of the reasons you guys have wanted your babies on solids?

-- Dagny
Mom to Meg, 10/03

I'm really not sure what you're asking. Are you suggesting that a baby never
get solid food and is just sustained on breastmilk? If that is what your
asking, then no at some point a baby/child is going to need food. If your
asking why we started solids when we did, well at the time when my babies
were small (I have a 11, 8 and 7-year old), the recommendation then was to
start solids at four months. I was as religous about that recommendation as
many of you are today at waiting six months. I looked at the signs of the
baby really than the date on the calendar. At some point, babies are just
going to want other things other than breastmilk. When you see that the baby
isn't satisfied on breastmilk alone, then you will have to add solids for
vitamins and minerals that end up being decreased in bm as the child gets
older (like iron).

--
Sue (mom to three girls)
I'm Just a Raggedy Ann in a Barbie Doll World...

Dagny wrote:


What are some of the reasons you guys have wanted your babies on solids?

As the parent of two voracious nurslings who would NEVER take a bottle of
EBM, one of the reasons I had for wanting my munchkins to take solids was
that so I could get away for a couple of hours without the baby. In both
cases, they started solids at about 5 1/2 months. I would have waited
longer, but by that time they were both literally grabbing food off of my
plate.
Tracey in CT

"Dagny" wrote in message hlink.net...

But I know it is a very common desire of parents on this board and IRL to
have their babies on solid food at around 6 months or shortly thereafter.
What are some of the reasons you guys have wanted your babies on solids?

-- Dagny
Mom to Meg, 10/03

I felt the exact same way you do until around three months or so the
Bug started watching every bite of food I ate on its path from the
plate to my mouth. Then at 5 months she was eating paper and
literally lunging at food. We started solids a week and a half shy of
6 months because it was clear that she was very, very interested and
had the needed motor skills. She took to it well from the start.
Before she was interested I was all for waiting as long as I possibly
could, but once she started acting like there was nothing in the world
that she wanted as bad as food (well, except for one thing :-) I
became very excited about giving it to her. It's a lot of work (aside
from the feeding there's the mess), but it's also a lot of fun.

Kate
and the Bug, June 8 2003

"Dagny" wrote in message hlink.net...
As the mother of a two and a half month old, I can't yet imagine wanting to
give her food until she insists upon it (unless there was a health need).
My typical response to "When will she start eating food?" is "When she can
pry it from my clenched fist, or sneak it like the dogs." I will be happy
to have a big girl which I know will happen soon enough. But when she does
start eating, I know I will have to deal with -- am I providing the best
nutrition I can? Is she getting enough water? Should I have introduced
that food? Gosh that poo smells. Etc.

Well, that seems weird to me. It wasn't exactly convenient
to have my child learn to walk either - I had to worry about him
hitting his head, suddenly he was able to reach dangers that had
previously been safely far away, I had to figure out what shoes
to get him, etc. However, I still encouraged him to walk and
thought it was great when he learned (which is not to say that
I pushed him into it, either).

Obviously, pumping rice cereal into a one-month-old is a bad
idea, but I think 'pry it from my clenched fist' is pretty far in
the other direction. When the baby's ready for food, that's
when to offer it.

Beth

"Dagny"

But I know it is a very common desire of parents on this board and IRL to
have their babies on solid food at around 6 months or shortly thereafter.
What are some of the reasons you guys have wanted your babies on solids?


Here is a list of some of my reasons:

Get proprer amounts of iron which is a concern if you do not use
formula.
For #1, he wouldn't take a bottle so I wanted him to have something to
eat when I was at work. He refused even solids till 10 months though.
For #2 he was hollering and grabbing at food at every meal.
I hoped it would space out the nursing a little bit as mine were both
nursing every 1.5-3hrs around the clock still at 6 months.
I hoped it would help them stay full and nurse less at night...NOT,
lol.
#1 was never into solids but with #2 it was a riot introducing him to
new foods and watching him enjoy meal times.
I can't really think of a good reason not to introduce them at 6
months for your typical healthy baby. Not all babies (like my #1)
want them that early which is fine and should be respected but that is
different then not introducing them I think.

--

Nikki

Obviously, pumping rice cereal into a one-month-old is a bad
idea, but I think 'pry it from my clenched fist' is pretty far in
the other direction. When the baby's ready for food, that's
when to offer it.

My feelings exactly.... I think it's just as bad to get into the 'the later the
baby takes solids the better mother I must be' mindset than to have the older
'MY baby was eating applesauce at 2 weeks, so she's obviously far superior to
YOUR baby who only started it at 4 weeks!'

I started Shaina on solids at 5 months. This was 12 years ago, when the
standard recommondation was still 4-6 months. It seemed a convenient time. She
had never been willing to take EBM from a bottle. I was happy enough to see her
take the step, so I tried offering her some cereal. She liked it just fine. I
never had to force her to eat it, or spend hours scraping cereal off her chin
or the out of the carpet. Would it have been 'better' if I'd waited another 3
weeks? Or if I'd waited for her to grab food off my plate? I don't know.
What constitutes 'better?' She liked the solid foods I gave her. Now, at 12
(and, way back at much younger ages) she is an excellent eater, enjoying a wide
range of foods. I still find it interesting that many of the foods she still
doesn't eat are raw veggies, which are foods that I COULDN"T give her until
quite late, since she got teeth late and so couldn't eat them.


Naomi
CAPPA Certified Lactation Educator

(either remove spamblock or change address to to e-mail
reply.)

"Dagny" wrote in message hlink.net...

But I know it is a very common desire of parents on this board and IRL to
have their babies on solid food at around 6 months or shortly thereafter.
What are some of the reasons you guys have wanted your babies on solids?

So that my daughter would begin pooping more often than once every two
weeks! Don't get me wrong, not changing poopy diapers was great, but
14-15 days was a little wierd. Even my doctor, who admitted that it
was the exteme long end of "normal" was a bit concerned (but conceeded
it was probably just normal for Kivi).

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis 12/01

"Dagny" wrote in message hlink.net...
As the mother of a two and a half month old, I can't yet imagine wanting to
give her food until she insists upon it (unless there was a health need).
My typical response to "When will she start eating food?" is "When she can
pry it from my clenched fist, or sneak it like the dogs." I will be happy
to have a big girl which I know will happen soon enough. But when she does
start eating, I know I will have to deal with -- am I providing the best
nutrition I can? Is she getting enough water? Should I have introduced
that food? Gosh that poo smells. Etc.

But I know it is a very common desire of parents on this board and IRL to
have their babies on solid food at around 6 months or shortly thereafter.
What are some of the reasons you guys have wanted your babies on solids?

I think it will be really interesting to know what your reasons are
when you get to solids. I am just wondering if you will feel
differently about it in 4 months time. I can't remember even thinking
about solids when Moo was younger, its only when it became an issue
becuase he was grabbing our food etc that I started to research it,
although I knew he wasnt going to get solids until he was ready, and
definatly not before 6 months.

teapot and almost 7 month old Moo

But I know it is a very common desire of parents on this board and IRL to
have their babies on solid food at around 6 months or shortly thereafter.
What are some of the reasons you guys have wanted your babies on solids?

-- Dagny
Mom to Meg, 10/03

Emma was never very good at putting on weight. She started off at 37
weeks gestation and weighing 7lb 7.5oz. By the time she was 6 mths
she was only about 13lb 12oz. She was acting hungry and hadn't put on
weight for around 3 weeks. So I offered potato blended with some of
my EBM. Which I only use for blending food as she still won't drink
from anything but me. Her weight gain has become more stable and she
is so happy. When she had her first taste of solids she spent the
next hour singing. Just as if she was saying thankyou Mum that's just
what I needed.
The only thing you can do is be guided by your child and not your
peers.
Yours Mitch

But I know it is a very common desire of parents on this board and IRL to
have their babies on solid food at around 6 months or shortly thereafter.
What are some of the reasons you guys have wanted your babies on solids?

Because she was almost a year and a half, almost entirely breastfed, I
couldn't eat enough to keep weight on, and was getting tired from the
every-two-hours nursing pattern around the clock!

I know that's not quite what you meant. You're in good company here. I
was happy to exclusively breastfeed for the first year, and I would have
been sad to start solids early. We started offering at 9 months and she
finally got interested at about 16-18 months.

Some babies love nursing, and some babies are ready for solids at six
months or even earlier, and it's fine to follow your baby's cues either
way. You definitely shouldn't feel like a failure, or like your baby is
delayed, if you don't start rice cereal at 4 months of age. There is a
definite air of mom-competition wrt starting solids early, especially in
the older generations.

Sproutkin still prefers nursing to eating, and it's only by getting more
regimented with mealtimes that we've gotten her down to nursing 5-6
times a day and 2-3 times at night.

Mary S.
mom to the still-avidly-nursing Sproutkin, 22 months